Conventionally, an auxiliary power unit (APU), engines, and other components of a vehicle may be replaced in the field either by a field service engineer (FSE) or at maintenance repair and overhaul (MRO) shop. In a conventional repair process, the APU or component is removed from a vehicle by an FSE or authorized person and is repaired either at the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) or at an MRO shop. Unfortunately, the OEM does not have trace on whether the OEM APU, engines, or component is being repaired by an authorized FSE, MRO Shops using OEM supplied technical manuals (like service bulletins, repair manuals, etc) unless the vehicle owner or FSE or MRO Shops informs the OEM about the repair or places an order for spare parts.
While many vehicle owners visit unauthorized MRO shops and get the OEM APUs, Engines or components repaired and refitted on the vehicle, there is a possibility that counterfeit parts may fit into OEM APUs, engines, or components and also owners may swap APUs between vehicles as per their requirement. The OEM will not have control on swapping of APUs between vehicles and also will not be always informed about the repair. Furthermore, as OEMs sell and lease APUs to customers and operators of vehicles, for example in fleet services, the OEM should know the exact hours of APU usage when the APU is leased for accurate billing. The OEM APU billing team relies on data on APU and vehicle usage and if an APU is swapped between vehicles, it will be difficult for the OEM to calculate accurate APU usage and billing.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide systems and methods for validating APUs, engines, and components on a vehicle. Other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the foregoing technical field and background.